Don Yeomans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a senior research scientist, supervisor for the Solar System Dynamics Group, and manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office. He was the Radio Science Team chief for the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission and currently he is the U.S. project scientist for the Japanese Hayabusa asteroid sample return mission. His research work is focused upon the physical and dynamical modeling of comets and asteroids. For NASA’s 2006 Deep Impact mission, he was responsible for understanding the orbit of comet Tempel 1 and helping to develop the targeting strategy. Dr. Yeomans has received 15 NASA Achievement awards including an Exceptional Service Medal and a Space Act Award. Asteroid 2956 was named 2956 YEOMANS to honor his professional achievements.
Don Yeomans with the truth about close-passing asteroid Apophis



